Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 26, 2011 3:25 pm Hi All, I need your opinion on the issue am facing. I am building a house with a builder who constructed the porch without eaves (eaves are included in the original plan). Original Plan http://s1122.photobucket.com/albums/l53 ... Design.png Porch without eaves - Built not as per the plan http://s1122.photobucket.com/albums/l53 ... vaes-2.jpg Upon raising the issue, they went ahead and fixed the issue but added a down pipe to the porch pillar which is not in the plan. Porch with eaves - Again built not as per the plan with a downpipe http://s1122.photobucket.com/albums/l53 ... wnpipe.jpg http://s1122.photobucket.com/albums/l53 ... pipe-2.jpg When asked why did they put on a down pipe which is not in the plan, they say it was a mistake of the draftsman who did the work and in order to have the eaves they need this down pipe. Right now am disputing with them to take out the down pipe which is not in the original plan and also the to have the fascia and guttering of the porch inline with the rest of the house Builder is not accepting to raise the height of the porch and get the guttering inline with the house. They says they are going with the plan and can't raise the height of the porch and also says that the fascia and gutter of porch is down compared to the fascia and gutter of the house. Structurally it is acceptable to have a fascia and gutter for the porch not being inline with the fascia and gutter of the rest of the house? Also my understanding is the drafts men who did the sketch, did not mention the down pipe because his intention was the fascia and gutter of the porch will be in line with the rest of the house. My builder does not accept to this fact and says the draftsmen is correct in putting fascia and gutter separately for the porch and the house. I know they are just bluffing to cover up their mistakes and don't want to spend money to fix the issue. Please help me with your thoughts of how to handle this situation. Thanks in advance GK Re: Porch built not as per plan 2Sep 26, 2011 3:38 pm They look like they have now built it to plan. You can clearly see on the plan that the porch gutter is lower than the house, by about half the height of the fascia. You there then need a downpipe so the water has somewhere to go. Building NBG Buckingham 46 on Property in rural Victoria my Building Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46837 Re: Porch built not as per plan 3Sep 26, 2011 4:16 pm equineaffair They look like they have now built it to plan. You can clearly see on the plan that the porch gutter is lower than the house, by about half the height of the fascia. You there then need a downpipe so the water has somewhere to go. I tend to agree, however if that was in our estate, it would fail the design rules, as we are not allowed to have gutters out the front. OP. Hopefully you have that in yours, otherwise, yes, they have built it to plan. Cept the drawings dont list the gutter. That is the draftmans fault. Which would mean the builder is at fault. But structually, they have no option but to have a gutter there. Re: Porch built not as per plan 4Sep 26, 2011 4:50 pm When I met the supervisor after raising the issue, the solution he offered was to raise the porch height and get the gutter of the porch inline with the rest of the house(the way they did when they built the porch without the eaves) After 2 days he called up and said the issue will be sorted as per the plan but didn't made a mention of the down pipe or explained the solution. They went ahead and did it in a way to minimize the cost of fixing the issue blocking the front window. Can they change the original plan and add changes to the structure without the approval of the owner?Whom should i approach to raise a complaint against this builder? Re: Porch built not as per plan 5Sep 26, 2011 6:25 pm They don't draw Downpipes on the front elevation plans. Only on the floorplans submitted to council. I think if you check your other plans you may in fact see that a down pipe is located there. I don't believe legally you have a leg to stand on to raise an official complaint against the builder. They appear to be building the house to spec. Which is their only requirement. Its unfortunate you are unhappy with the build, but not much you can do about it now. If they find what you are asking is going to cost them money, and you signed off on plans that didnt show the changes. Then your chances of getting the changes are either nil or zero. Good luck with the rest of your build, i hope it becomes a happier process. Re: Porch built not as per plan 6Sep 26, 2011 7:32 pm They dont appear to have changed the plan, they look like they are actually building to plan. Building NBG Buckingham 46 on Property in rural Victoria my Building Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46837 Re: Porch built not as per plan 7Sep 26, 2011 9:16 pm [quote="1stBuildFR"]They don't draw Downpipes on the front elevation plans. Only on the floorplans submitted to council. I think if you check your other plans you may in fact see that a down pipe is located there.quote] Kind of right, your down pipe positions should be listed on your main site plans. Look around the edges of your building on the main site plan for D.P. this is the location of your down pipes. In some instances down pipes are shown on sections and elevations but not in every case. They do also appear to be building the porch to plan. So if they are now changing what they have already completed, I would think you are very lucky. I know plenty of builders who wouldn't, and of the ones that would, they would more than likely charge you for the change. As for a solution, If they dont want to change the roof line you could concrete saw a channel into the porch pillar, place the down pipe in the channel and render over the top. Goodluck. Re: Porch built not as per plan 8Sep 27, 2011 6:14 pm tobehomeowner Can they change the original plan and add changes to the structure without the approval of the owner?Whom should i approach to raise a complaint against this builder? With the exception of adding the downpipe - which is necessary so that the water that ends up in the gutter has somewhere to go - it doesn't appear they have changed the original plan. In fact it looks like it has been built correctly to the plan which shows the porch gutter and fascia as being lower than the rest of the house. Re: Porch built not as per plan 9Sep 27, 2011 9:35 pm 1stBuildFR They don't draw Downpipes on the front elevation plans. Only on the floorplans submitted to council. I think if you check your other plans you may in fact see that a down pipe is located there. I don't believe legally you have a leg to stand on to raise an official complaint against the builder. They appear to be building the house to spec. Which is their only requirement. Its unfortunate you are unhappy with the build, but not much you can do about it now. If they find what you are asking is going to cost them money, and you signed off on plans that didnt show the changes. Then your chances of getting the changes are either nil or zero. Good luck with the rest of your build, i hope it becomes a happier process. I don't see any mention of downpipe in the floor plan http://s1122.photobucket.com/albums/l53 ... orplan.jpg equineaffair They look like they have now built it to plan. You can clearly see on the plan that the porch gutter is lower than the house, by about half the height of the fascia. You there then need a downpipe so the water has somewhere to go. Yes agreed water has to go somewhere and my builder says the same. What am asking them is how come they missed drafting downpipe in the plan. My concern of having downpipe to the porch is. it is blocking one of the windows to some extent. If you see the image http://s1122.photobucket.com/albums/l53 ... pipe-2.jpg, there is a small gap in the tiles to drain the water down, and this is no where mentioned in the plan. Re: Porch built not as per plan 10Sep 27, 2011 11:12 pm Imagine how p!$$ed off you'd be when your bedroom flooded from the ceiling down because the water decided that that was it's best route out of the gutter. The only thing I might ask it for the downpipe to be a bit more flush to the pillar, other than that, maybe ask for it to be recessed, as a previous poster suggested.. Given that the closest down pipe is at the front corner, you really should keep it there if possible. Re: Porch built not as per plan 11Sep 28, 2011 11:11 pm Thank you all for responding to my concern. My builder agreed to raise the porch height and get the fascia, gutter of porch in line with the guttering of the house. The existing downpipes will take water out. Thanks GK 1) I had requested R6 ceiling insualtion batts, however I noticed that on some areas there are huge gaps which will allow hot air to sweep in, and also noticed black/grey… 0 918 Thanks for your reply! All valid points and I agree with you on many of them. I am in QLD, any recommendations on a construction lawyer would be helpful 3 2052 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair We purchased a 1960s property that is on timber stumps mostly, and a newer section is on concrete stumps. We had a building inspection initially and they reported some… 0 9621 |